Azerbaijan: Tenbel Pakhlava

Baklava, pakhlava, paxlava… Not the kind of traditional baklava that Vera prepared a few months ago and that is made with phyllo. Because this month, we are visiting Azerbaijan.

Azeri baklava is typically prepared with a dough that is not as crispy and without the multitude of layers of the traditional baklava, although, depending on the region, there may be several layers.

Tea and sweets after a meal are extremely important for Azeris. The cuisine of Azerbaijan is rich in more than 30 varieties of desserts, with a majority of them containing nuts, almonds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, ginger, saffron or cardamom. Among the most famous Azeri sweets, baklava comes at the top, but shekerbura is also another favorite.

There are so many varieties of baklava around Azerbaijan that you would almost have to know the geography of the country by heart to locate all the recipes.

First, the famous baklava from Baku, the capital of the country, known for its thin dough layers enclosing nuts and sometimes almonds, sweet and spiced, covered with butter and sweet syrup.

Then comes the baklava from the Nakhichevan region that is in all points similar to the one from Baku but where the syrup is flavored with rose water.

Loaded with nuts and soaked with very aromatic syrup and a saffron infusion, comes the baklava from Skeki. The absolute dream of anyone who has a sweet tooth … very sweet tooth! It is also called skeki halvasi. It has the particularity of being prepared with rice flour in large molds and then cut and individually packaged in small boxes. The recipe for this variety of baklava is secretly guarded by the bakers of the city which explains why it is almost impossible to prepare this baklava at home.

Then, we’re headed to Ganja! The city of Ganja is known to be very proud of its nut-based baklava flavored with rose water and cardamom syrup. The baklava from Ganja has more dough layers than the one from Baku and rose water is incorporated in both the dough and the filling. Another characteristic of this baklava is the fact that it is decorated with poppy seeds.

For the record, in 2010, a long baklava 45×15 feet was prepared in Ganja. About 20,000 people tasted this baklava whose dough weighed more than six tons.

While the Sheki baklava is famous for being square, the one from the Gabala region is famous for its triangular shape and is called uchgulag, which would mean 3 ears, like the 3 sides of a triangle. This baklava is fried in a pan called saj.

The pakhlava recipe I chose to prepare today is the recipe of our culinary expert Feride and is one of the easiest recipes for this dessert. One can even say that this recipe is for lazy people! In fact, the full name of this pakhlava in Azeri is tenbel pakhlava, which can be translated to… lazy pakhlava! In Azerbaijan, this baklava is also called sochinskiy pirog.

I prepared this tenbel pakhlava with Vera during my short stay in Paris last week. For this dinner with the family, we also prepared parcha-dosheme plov (a pilaf recipe from Azerbaijan with chicken and dried fruit that I will share next week). Everyone loved the dessert, especially my father who typically hates Middle Eastern pastries that are drenched in sweet syrup. We even had some of this simple and dry version of pakhlava during our poker game the day after and everyone loved it!

I will make this pakhlava again very soon during the cooking class that I am hosting with Feride on June 5th in Los Angeles. So if you live in the area, you have to register and join us, it will be a lot of fun!

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Mike is “the devil” of the 196 flavors' duo. Nicknamed as such by his friends, he is constantly in search of unusual recipes and techniques with impossible to find ingredients. The devil is always pushing the envelope, whether it is with humor or culinary surprises.